Vikings Fall Twice to St. Francis (Pa.) Thursday

Loretto, Pa. - Despite two home runs on the day the Cleveland State Vikings were unable to come away with a victory, dropping both games of a doubleheader vs. the St. Francis (Pa.) Red Flash. The Red Flash took game one 6-1 before sneaking out a 4-3 extra-inning game two win.

The Vikings fell behind early in the first game of the day, as the Red Flash jumped out to a 4-0 lead before CSU was able to get on the board.

Taylor Darneille got St. Francis off to the hot start with a solo home run in the second inning. The Red Flash offense was then able to put three more runs on the board in the third inning to take a 4-0 lead.

Maggie Creciun started things off with a lead-off single, and was subsequently bunted over to second by Samantha Thomas. A double by Davina Kachnovitz put runners on second and third, Chelsy Cosentino then followed that hit and brought both of those runners home with a double of her own. Darneille also continued her offensive damage in the inning as she pushed across her second run of the day with a two-out RBI single.

Sophomore Nena Doran responded for Cleveland State in the top of the fourth inning, hitting a solo homer, her first of the year.

Despite the Vikings cutting the deficit to 4-1, the Red Flash were able to tack on two more runs on three hits in the fifth inning for a 6-1 final.

Game two of the afternoon turned into a heart-breaker for the Vikings, as a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh turned into the 4-3 eight inning defeat.

After game one of the day saw St. Francis put six runs on the board, game two proved to be a pitcher's duel, as both teams struggled offensively for much of the second contest.

With the two teams scoreless through the first five innings of play, Vikings' sophomore Erica McNew continued a strong trend this season, as she hit her Horizon League leading 10th home run of the year. The blast scored freshman Alyson Broschk who pinch ran for Cynthia Woodard after Woodard reached on an error by the St. Francis shortstop with one out.

Cleveland State looked like they might sneak away with a win until the bottom of the seventh inning with one out. That's when the Red Flash answered McNew's homer with a two run shot of their own from Kate Blattenberger who tied things at 2-2.

Moving onto extra-innings both teams were granted a runner at second base to lead off the inning due to NCAA rules.

Cleveland State was able to use that runner to their advantage as they started the top of the frame off posting one run on the board to take a 3-2 lead. Janessa Rivera-Keahi was placed on second for CSU to begin the inning. After advancing to third on a ground out by Darien Ward, Rivera-Keahi eventually scored on a bunt single from Katelind Phillips with one out.

Although CSU did jump into the lead it wasn't quite enough as St. Francis bounced back with two runs of their own to take the win in the bottom of the eighth.

With runners on second and third and one out Taylor Parsons hit a bunt single to score the first run, tying the game at 3-3. Unfortunately for the Vikings on that same play an error by first baseman Dara Toman allowed a second run to score giving the Red Flash the victory.

Cleveland State will look to bounce back from the two tough losses as they head to Youngstown State for a three game Horizon League series Saturday and Sunday. The two teams will begin with a doubleheader Saturday at 1:00 p.m. and follow that with a game Sunday at noon.